Reconnection
by Cora-DragonSoul
Summary: Lucy runs away from the guild and Natsu follows her. Neither of them are seen for 4 years. Why have they now returned? Mainly NaLu. Touches of Gruvia, GeLe and Jerza. Currently rated K but I don't know how it'll develop.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own any of the characters unless they're an OC (like Iggy!). Also don't own the picture I used. Google is good to me.**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 1**_

Natsu was clearly distracted. Gray paused halfway through his most current stream of insults. It was disconcerting to receive no reaction from the Fire Dragon Slayer. A simple grunt or a glare would be unusual, but no reaction at was unheard of. Gray suspected it had something to do with the fact that Lucy hadn't shown up at the guild yet. Not that he knew why this was bothering Natsu so much; Lucy sometimes decided to sleep in or took a long time to get dressed. But something was off.

He was about to say something when the doors of the guild hall burst open, and Erza stormed in. Gray flinched at the sight. Erza was fuming and looked murderous. Her terrifying eyes settled on the two boys and she marched towards them. Before Gray had a chance to beg for his life, however, her attention focused on the pink-haired wizard next to him.

"Where is she, Natsu?" Erza asked in a low and dangerous tone.

Natsu looked confused for a second before his face settled into fear. But Gray got the feeling it wasn't a fear of Erza, but a fear of what her question implied.

"Lucy?" Natsu finally responded in a soft voice.

Erza waved a piece of paper in front of his face, suddenly shouting. She sounded panicked. "She's left! She just left! He house is nearly empty! All she left was a note! You know her best; where has she gone?"

Natsu didn't answer right away. He snatched the paper from Erza and read, looking increasingly troubled. Suddenly his stood, slamming his hand onto the table.

"Damn it!"

Gray recovered from his shock. "Wait, wait. Why the hell would Lucy leave Fairy Tail?"

"It's my fault." Natsu's voice had dropped in volume again, and his whole body was shaking as he stared at his hands.

A few other members had gathered around due to the commotion, but there was sudden silence at Natsu's words.

The Ice-Make Wizard narrowed his eyes at his rival and friend. "What did you do, idiot? It must have been really bad."

Natsu shook his head, but didn't answer right away. He looked around at all his friends and family, and his heart tore at the absence of his closest friend. "Yeah… Something bad. But I didn't realise early enough." His brow furrowed in thought.

The next person to speak up was Wendy. "Do… Do you think she'll come back? Maybe she just needs some time alone." She sounded hesitant and jumped as Natsu's head snapped up to look at her in surprise. Then he turned to look at the doors.

Everyone was holding their breath, waiting to see what Natsu would decide to do. Would he decide Lucy wanted some 'alone time' or would he go after her? Would she want him to find her? Where exactly had she gone? This situation was causing utter confusion. No one other than Natsu seemed to know what possible reason Lucy had for leaving the guild that she loved so much.

Natsu eyes narrowed and seemed to flare up as he made his decision.

"I'm going after her. Lucy doesn't like being alone, no matter what she says. And I need to fix the mistake I made. Happy! Come on. The sooner we leave, the better the trail will be."

Happy, who'd been nervously chewing on a fish waiting for his partner to make the call, quickly jumped up to follow Natsu as headed to the doors.

"Gramps!" Natsu shouted as he paused in the doorway. "We probably won't be back for a while."

Makarov just nodded from his usual spot on the bar. "Be safe, child. We'll be here when you come back." He had his suspicions, but he kept them to himself. This was a path Natsu and Lucy needed to walk by themselves.


	2. Chapter 2

**This freakin chapter is nearly 3x the length of the first one, but I couldn't figure out where to cut it off...**

 **Anyway, this is sort of the end of the 'prologue' section.**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 2:**_

Gray looked around the Fairy Tail guild hall from his spot at the bar and sighed.

"Is everything okay, Gray-sama?" Juvia inquired, sitting next to him.

He grunted in response. "Yeah. I just don't think I can get used to this quiet. Who am I supposed to fight with?" The guild wasn't exactly quiet, it never was. Various members bickered or yelled conversations. Cana was loudly laughing at something. But there were some key ingredients that were missing. It had been two months since Lucy had disappeared and Natsu had run off after her. He hadn't expected them to be gone for this long. He'd expected Natsu to find Lucy and drag her back within a week. And Makarov hadn't let anyone go after them.

Gray sighed again, then turned back to talk to Juvia.

"I'm bored. Want to go on a job?" He raised an eyebrow as the Water Girl squealed and fainted in response.

Three months to the day since their disappearance. Gray mentally marked this fact before turning back to his meal. It was mid morning and the reasonably quiet guild was functioning as normal. There was a bit of quiet bickering, and some chatter, but with less than half the members present at this time of day, it felt empty. Not that Gray minded. He was sitting at a table with Erza, Wendy and Juvia, quietly discussing which job they should do and when they should leave. However, when the discussion stopped as Gray cut off halfway through a sentence to stare at a sight he thought he'd never see again. The girls turned to follow his gaze, and gasped. Standing in the entrance to Fairy Tail was a pink-haired Dragon Slayer; Natsu.

He walked down the centre of the hall, towards the bar.

Erza responded first. "Natsu!" She yelled. "Where the hell have you been?"

Natsu looked at her, seemingly in a daze. But his eyes refocused and he gave a small smile at them. "Yo."

Gray rose. "Don't 'yo' us, flame-brain. Where were you? Where's Lucy? Did you find her? Why haven't you come back until now?"

Natsu chuckled, throwing his hands up in mock defeat. "Yeah, found her quickly. But it's a bit complex from there." His smile fell into a small frown. "Where's Gramps? I need to talk to him."

"Natsu." Apparently Mira, having sighted the returning wizard, had run to get the guild's Master, who was now standing on one end of the bar. "Come. Talk to me."

Natsu shot another quick smile at his friends before walking over and sitting on a stool in front of the old man.

Gray looked on as Makarov and Natsu talked to each other in low voices. They were quiet enough that even Wendy, with her Dragon Slayer hearing, couldn't pick up what was being discussed. It seemed the Master was asking a few questions, but Natsu was doing most of the talking. And they obviously didn't want anyone else to hear. Gray twitched in annoyance. The guy disappears without an explanation, shows up out of nowhere and still won't tell them what's going on.

Finally, it seemed like the conversation was over. Gray was still expecting Lucy to walk in at any moment. Natsu had found her, so where was she. Was she hurt? No, Natsu wouldn't be so calm if she were. He was interrupted by his thoughts by Wendy's voice.

"Natsu, are you leaving again?"

Gray jumped "What? Seriously? You're not staying?"

Natsu shook his head. "Sorry. Lucy can't come back yet and I need to stay with her. I just came back to tell Gramps what was going on. I'll probably be back again in about half a year."

Erza cleared her throat and Gray looked at her to see a very un-Erza look on her face; nervousness. "Natsu… Why can't Lucy come back? Will you tell us what is happening?"

Natsu shook his head in response. "Can't. Not yet. Don't have time." He looked at the small group for a second before letting loose his infamous grin. "We won't stay away forever, I promise. Even if it takes a few years, we'll come back."

The grin stayed on his face as his turned back towards the door, waving back at them without turning back. "See you!"

The four guilds wizards stared at the door that their friend has disappeared through for the second time, disbelieving.

Gray entered the guild and approached the bar where Erza was pacing back and forth while Juvia watched.

"What's up with her?" He questioned as he got to them.

Erza answered before Juvia. "He's late!"

"Who?"  
"Natsu! He said he'd be back in half a year. It's 2 days more than 6 months, so he's late."

Wow, had it been 6 months already? Gray thought back to the last time they'd seen the hothead.

"Erza, he said 'about'. Natsu's never been on time in his life. It's no reason to freak-" He cut off as Erza swung to glare at him, her piercing eyes giving him a familiar sense of fear. "Nevermind."

It was late evening, most of the guild was in eating dinner and drinking after a hard day of work. Or a hard day of drinking, in Cana's case. Master Makarov was on the bar, as usual, watching Erza with amusement. Gray could see Wendy sitting with Levy, Gajeel and the two remaining Exceeds. Happy had gone with Natsu, but they hadn't seen him last time either. Erza was right, Natsu had said he'd be back around this time, but there hadn't been an exact date set. Gray figured it was better to just relax and wait. Natsu would show when he wanted.

Suddenly Gray noticed the silence. The entire guild had stopped and was staring at a figure who had just entered. Natsu.

He looked odd in normal clothes; dark baggy jeans, black combat boots, and an orange t-shirt under a red jacket. But there was no mistaking who it was with his spiky, pink hair and slanted, dark eyes. Gray realised that nearly no-one in the guild had seen him the last time he'd shown up, and was seeing the missing, legendary Salamander for the first time in over 9 months. And he'd just casually sauntered in like no time had passed.

Gray was more distracted by the fact that he looked stressed.

"Yo, again." He waved in the direction of Gray and Erza.

Erza stormed up to him. "You're late, Natsu! It's two days more than 'half a year'!"

Natsu flinched. "Aye. Sorry Erza."

"Welcome back, Natsu." Makarov looked unsurprised. "What do you need?"

Natsu stepped back slightly from Erza and headed towards the Guild Master. His eyes flicked over the room as he walked towards the old man.

"Hey, Wendy! I need to ask you a favour."

The small Sky Dragon Slayer jumped and scrambled to join Natsu and Makarov as they moved to a far corner of the hall to talk in private.

 _Again_. Gray thought. _We're not getting any information again_. He scowled. The silence had been broken as the guild dissolved into chatter, though it was still quiet and mostly consisted of speculation.

After a short, seemingly urgent, back and forth between the three in the corner, Natsu leaned back with a smile, ruffling Wendy's hair. The girl looked excited and nervous at the same time. Both Dragon Slayers turned away from Makarov and headed back down the guild.

Gray hailed Natsu before he got too far away. "Not staying again, Hothead?"

"Not yet, Ice Princess" Natsu laughed.

"When you back next?"

Natsu thought for a moment. "Hm… 4 weeks."

"To the day?"

"Yeah, otherwise Erza will kill me."

"Are you bringing Lucy then?"

"Dunno. Up to her. I really have to leave now. See you 'round."

He resumed his exit, Wendy falling into step next to him.

"Charle!" Wendy called. "We're going with Natsu for a bit. Come on."

Juvia looked at Gray once they'd left. She'd spent the whole encounter just watching. Lucy was her friend (especially since she was no longer a love-rival) and she was a bit worried about why Natsu was taking the girl who wielded healing magic with him.

"Gray-sama, why is Wendy going? Do you think Lucy needs healing?"

"I don't know, Juvia. I think if Lucy was that hurt, Natsu wouldn't be here without her. But I hope we see her soon."

Wendy returned to Fairy Tail three days later, but neither her nor Charle would spill any information on where they'd been or why Lucy was still nowhere to be seen. She was hounded mercilessly for information before Mira finally stepped in, rescuing the poor bluenette who was becoming increasingly frantic in an effort to keep her secret. Eventually the guild members gave up, figuring they would eventually learn the truth.

Exactly four weeks later, Natsu returned, as promised. It was late afternoon when he stumbled in the door. Gray was sitting with Erza. Wendy, Gajeel and Juvia had gone on a job together, and Cana had left with Elfman and Lisanna. In short, there was nearly none of their usual friends to pass time with. He and Erza and only come back from a job earlier that day that they'd been on for a week. Erza had insisted that they return today as Natsu was scheduled to come back. Gray was surprised that he was actually on time. Even more surprising was that he walked over to them and slumped in on the chair next to the scarlet-haired Requip Wizard.

"Well done, Natsu! You're on time." Erza praised him.

Gray was less kind. "You look like shit." Brutal honesty. Natsu's pink hair was flatter than usual, his movements less graceful, and his face looked drawn.

Natsu scowled back at him. "I haven't slept properly in 3 weeks. You'd look like shit too."

Mira wandered over with a flaming mug. "You look like you need a drink, Natsu." She smiled as she handed it to him. He sent her a grateful smile as he accepted it. "I'll let Master know you're here."

"Thanks Mira."

"So, why are you not sleeping?" Erza asked as Mra walked away.

This caused Natsu to break out in a wide grin. "Can't tell you." He said as he winked at them.

"Seriously? Still?" Gray was irritated again. He really wanted to know what all the secrecy was about. Why wasn't he trusted with this information?

Natsu just nodded. "Still. Sorry."

Gray snorted. "Fine. How's Lucy? She still doesn't want to see us?"

Natsu frowned slightly. "Of course she wants to see you. But something has come up and she can't travel far right now." He looked at their worried faced. "Don't worry, she's fine. I wouldn't be here if she was in any danger at all. You know that."

The other two wizards relaxed. "That's good to hear." Erza smiled.

"Natsu!" It seemed Makarov had arrived. "Come! Tell me!" He looked excited.

Natsu's huge grin returned. He whipped back his drink before jumping up and going to talk to him.

Gray sighed. They weren't going to find anything out anytime soon.

The secret conversation didn't last long and Natsu started to leave again. For the first time in this situation, Makarov called after him.

"Natsu. Are you sure you're not going to stay the night? You could do with some sleep."

"Nah. Can't leave them for long."

"You won't sleep on the train."

"Eugh. Don't remind me. Sorry, Gramps, I want to go back as soon as I can."

He waved at Erza and Gray again as he suddenly ran out of the guild.

They both looked at Makarov as he sighed, then spoke.

"I don't think we'll see either of them for a few years now. Don't hold your breath."


	3. Chapter 3

**OMG Reviews! Thank you so much every one who faved, followed, and especially reviewed! This is only the 2nd fic I've ever actually posted (and the 1st one is unfinished) and I think it's sort of stupid drabble but you all made me so happy!**

 **Anyway, guuuyyyysss, you're not supposed to guess what happens! :P You'll still have to wait to find out if you're right or not. SUSPENSE!  
Also, now I have to actually finish this, and I honestly have no idea where it's going. I just had the initial idea and ran with it without a full story line. Anyway, we'll see.**

 **Enough blabbing! Own OC, but nothing else... On with the story!**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 3:**_

Fairy Tail's guild hall was as noisy as usual. The fact that the resident rule-keeper, Erza Scarlet, was away on a job wasn't helping. If an outsider were to look in, it would be hard to guess that this guild was the top guild in the country and contained some of the strongest wizards in all of Fiore. Cana sat on her usual table with Macao and Wakaba, all three drinking heavily in the early afternoon sun streaming in through the windows. Levy was reading while Gajeel threw a few punches at any male wizard that tried to annoy her. The Exceeds, Pantherlily Charle, sat on their table, chatting about their most recent job. Wendy and Lisanna stood nearby watching Max spar with one of the new recruits (Max was winning) while Elfman something about 'being a man'. Mira was working the bar and Kinana circulated with food and drinks. Evergreen could be seen yelling at Freed and Bixlow, while Laxus napped nearby. Romeo, now 17, was on a job with Bisca, Alzack and the now 7 year old Asca. In addition, the sheer numbers caused by new members joining in recent years meant that even normal chatter became nearly overwhelmingly loud. Not that Gray minded, as he walked down the main space towards the bar, letting Juvia talk about how today was exactly 1 year and 1 week since they started officially dating. The noise was normal and comforting, even if every day he was reminded that the rowdiest duo he knew were still missing. So when the noise suddenly stopped, punctuated only by the shatter of glass, it was enough to make him stop in his tracks and seek out the source of the silence. He was not expecting the sight that greeted him.

"Ah, man, it's good to be home!" A grinning Natsu exclaimed into the silence, clearly enjoying reaction. Gray just stared. He hadn't seen the pink-haired, Fire Dragon Slayer in over 4 years, and here he was, sauntering in like no time had past at all, and with no warning.

However, the more extraordinary view was the curvy, blonde Celestial Wizard standing next to him, giggling.

The shock of their arrival was broken by one of the newest members (an overconfident, feisty kid; Gray didn't remember his name) marching up to the pair. Before anyone could stop him, he glared up at Natsu and asked "Who the hell are you and what do you want here?"

A few people reacted before Natsu could. Gray ran towards them, pulling the kid back before Natsu could threaten to fight him, and stuttering out a surprised "n-no way" just as Levy screamed out "Lucy!" as she followed on Gray's tail. Gajeel, initially as silent as everyone else, snorted and settled back into his chair with a "Welcome back, Salamander. Lucy." Before long, everyone who knew the two had surrounded them, letting loose a barrage of questions.

"Where the hell have you been?" Gray.

"Lucy, have you finished your book yet?" Levy.

"Why have we seen Natsu more than once but not Lucy? And why have we seen neither in years?" Lisanna.

"Did the old man know where you were?" Macao.

And then the question that caused silence again. "More importantly, Lucy, why are you and Natsu holding hands?" Trust Cana to notice the important details.

Gray looked, indeed their fingers were intertwined in an intimate gesture.

Lucy and Natsu merely looked at each other and smiled, having yet to answer any of the questions. Finally, Lucy spoke up.

"It's probably better if we explain to everyone in one go, so we'll make sure everyone can hear us."

Natsu hummed in agreement. "Mm. And we should probably make sure Gramps knows we're back first."

"It's okay, Master already knows. You should probably stand on the stage and explain to everyone." Mira had approached and was smiling gently. She seemed the only one who wasn't surprised. They nodded at her, quickly apologised to their friends and made their way to the stage, hands still linked.

A few minutes later, Natsu and Lucy were standing on Fairy Tail's stage, ready to start their story. Nearly all the guild members had gathered to listen.

"This better be a good explanation" Gray muttered. Juvia was beaming next to him. "Juvia is pleased they are back, no matter what the reason! Lucy is Juvia's friend, and it seems no longer her love-rival."

Even Gajeel had perked his ears to hear what they had to say. He was smirking at the reaction his greeting had caused. Now most of the new members were speculating about whether Natsu was the famed 'Salamander of Fairy Tail', who had disappeared a number of years ago. Rumour was he was still alive, but only a handful of people knew where he'd gone. Already his reputation of destruction and strength was turning into legend and some of the newest members doubted his existence. The Iron Dragon Slayer was finding this gossip highly amusing and was looking forward to Natsu beating them all up.

Lucy cleared her throat and a new silence settled on the guild, but this one was expectant.

"This explanation will start off a little cryptic, but with us. It will become clear as soon as possible."

"How many times do you think I'll be killed?" Natsu asked Lucy, who shushed him, smiling.

"Firstly, I'll answer Cana's question because it's kind of related to the overall story." She cleared her throat again, clearly nervous of the reaction she was about to receive. "Natsu and I have actually been dating since a couple of months before I ran away."

"What?!" Was the main reaction from the guild, though a cheer was heard from Mira, Levy and Juvia. Gray just looked on. That explained a lot.

Lucy looked embarrassed but Natsu was beaming, looking utterly pleased with himself.

"They're in loooove!" A familiar voice chimed accompanying a streak of blue that shot from the side of the stage.

"Happy! You're back too!" Wendy cried happily as he landed on Lucy's head.

"Aye!"

Natsu raised an eyebrow at the blue Exceed. "Weren't you supposed to be guarding the surprise?" Happy just giggled in response and pointed to something out of sight. Natsu looked over before sighing and turning back to face the guild. "Better explain this quickly, Lucy."

"Mm. In short," Lucy continued "a bit over four years ago, something happened and I panicked and ran away. Natsu came to find me and found out what had happened. He tried to get me to come back but when I still didn't want to he decided to stay with me instead. He returned a little later to let Master know the situation, then to ask for Wendy's help and lastly to update Master. Then things got a bit more complicated and travelling such a distance became out of the question. I won't tell you where you were but Mira was sending us jobs that Natsu would do so we had enough money. Finally, time past, and we got homesick, so here we are. Only a few people knew where we were and what was going on; Master, Mira, Wendy, Charle, and Porlyusica."

Lucy took a deep breath as she completed her brief explanation. There was a pause in the guild before the questions started again.

"All of you shut it!" Gajeel yelled. He'd noticed Levy trying to be heard over the ruckus. She smiled at him.

"Thank you, Gajeel." She looked up at the couple on the stage. "Lucy, you still haven't told us what happened, or what stopped you from coming back, and everyone wants to know what this surprise is."

"Sorry, Levy. I did say it would start out a little cryptic." Lucy took another large breath, steadying her nerves. "Okay, we'll show you the surprise. Most of it will become clear and then we can explain the exact details."

Lucy looked at Natsu and nodded. He squeezed her hand in reassurance, before letting go and excitedly spinning to face whatever was hidden off stage. The guild's curiousity rose as he crouched, held his arms out and made a beckoning gesture, all with a huge grin plastered on his face.

A collective gasp could be heard from Fairy Tail's members as many of their questions were answered in the instant it took them to process what they were seeing.


	4. Chapter 4

**Because the last chapter was a bit of a cliff-hanger, I'll leave the blabbing till the end.  
Only own Iggy, not Fairy Tail or any of its characters.  
Enjoy!**

* * *

 ** _Chapter 4:_**

A small child, around 3 years old, had run out from a hiding spot on the side of the stage, with Master Makarov tagging not far behind, looking smug. The little girl had messy, rose-pink hair, large brown eyes, and a very familiar grin. As she ran into Natsu's open arms, he picked her up and swung her so she was sitting on his shoulder, staring out across the guild hall. The child shot a look at Lucy who smiled indulgently. The guild was, for the 3rd time that night, stunned into silence. The source of the shock gave a small frown, poked Natsu in the head to get his attention, and broke the silence with words that caused complete chaos;

"Papa, is this our family?"

Lucy giggled at the uproar these simple words had caused, then waited for it to die down so she could speak again. When it didn't quieten fast enough, she quickly unclipped her whip, cracking it loud enough to focus attention onto her.

"What happened," She finally was able to say. "and please don't kill Natsu, because it's not entirely his fault, was that I got pregnant. Everyone, I'd like you to meet Ignacia; or Iggy for short. Say 'hi', sweetheart."

"Hello!"

"I'm sure that, with this information, you can fill in the missing pieces. The people who knew where we were, also knew this. Though Wendy and Charle didn't find out until Natsu came to ask for Wendy's help just before I was due to give birth." Wendy giggled. She was proud of her secret keeping and was excited to properly meet the little girl she'd seen born.

Lucy looked out at the guild members again, trying to gauge their reactions, and wrung her hands nervously, her whip back on her hip. There was surprise and shock. She suspected some of the boys were actually impressed with Natsu based on some of the expressions the saw. Others just looked confused. She was pretty sure Erza's mind had shut down.

She glanced at Natsu to see that even he, for one of the few times in his life, was actually nervous. They both just wanted their daughter to be accepted.

What was needed was someone to normalise the whole situation. After what seemed like an age for the new parent's, it was Pantherlily who did just that by stating; "I'm glad you named her after Igneel."

Natsu and Lucy laughed and everyone relaxed.

"Of course!" Natsu chuckled. "Lucy didn't get a choice in that. Hang on, we'll come down from up here so you can meet her properly."

Soon after, the guild was back to normal. Well, as normal as Fairy Tail could be with the addition of a new child. Natsu and Lucy had been properly welcomed back by everyone, including Master Makarov, who had apparently taken over Happy's job backstage of 'guarding the surprise' while the announcement was made. Levy continued to ask Lucy about the progress of her book, while Iggy was watched and fussed over by Erza, Lisanna and Wendy.

Iggy was squirming, unused to being surrounded by this amount of people. She had grown up with only her parents and Happy in the house, rarely going into the town at the bottom of the hill they'd lived on. So, during the split second the girls were distracted, she slipped off the chair and wandered over to find her father, who was talking to a dark haired man. She looked up at this new person while waiting for Natsu to notice she was there, and suddenly realised the man wasn't wearing a shirt. Which she pointed out to him, in a surprisingly loud voice;

"You're not wearing a shirt!"

"What? Oh shit, when did that happen?"

"Gray, when was the last time you were actually wearing a shirt?" Natsu was smirking.

Iggy thought for a moment. She wasn't sure whether she liked this shirtless man, but she'd heard her dad mention him when talking about the guild.

"Hey! Fight me, pervert!" She yelled, mimicking Natsu as she jumped into a fighting stance.

"I am not a pervert! What the hell, Natsu?"

Natsu didn't answer; he was doubled over, laughing too hard to even respond. Once he'd recovered, he shot a look over his shoulder to check where Lucy was. He let out a small sigh of relief as he turned back to his daughter, grabbing her under her arms and setting her on his hip.

"Oh man, if Lucy hears her say that, she'll kill me for sure." He chuckled. "Iggy, this is Gray, one of Mama and Papa's best friends. Also you're not strong enough to fight him yet. One day you will be, but not yet."

"Yo, Iggy. I promise when you get a bit bigger, I'll fight you." Gray was laughing as well as he watched the frown that was so much like Natsu's. "You take after your papa, kid. Natsu, you better hope I don't tell Lucy what she called me." He goaded his old friend.

"You better hope I never see you in anything less than boxers in front of my daughter, pervert." Natsu shot back.

"You wanna go, flame head?"

"I thought you'd never ask, ice princess! Iggy, go back to Aunty Erza. Your Papa's going to fight Gray instead!"

"But I wanna watch!"

"Yo, pipsqueak." Gajeel had wandered over to see what was going on. "Come sit on my shoulders, you can watch from there."

Natsu raised an eyebrow at the metal-studded man who was once his enemy. "Why are you being nice, metal-head? You know that if you let her get hurt, I'll tear you apart." He said this quite matter-of-factly.

"Calm down, Salamander. I'm curious about whether you've been slacking or not and might as well let the kid watch."

Gray rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, Natsu, Levy's tamed him."  
"What was that, moron? I'll take you on anytime!"

Iggy looked between the three men as they bickered. Finally, having had enough, she marched over to the 'metal man'. "Metal-head! Pick me up!" She raised her arms up at him in the universal gesture.

"Tch." He scowled down at her. "The name is Gajeel, kid. Don't you forget it."

"Gajeel. Pick me up." She demanded again. He scowled again, but did as he was told, setting her on his shoulders.

Iggy decided to get things rolling. "Papa! Punch Uncle Gray!"

"Uncle?" Gray barely had time to question before Natsu happily requesting to his daughter's demands.

* * *

 **So, I'm not very subtle or mysterious, I know. Everyone totally guessed what was coming. But that's cool :)  
** **On the downside, I've caught up to myself. I don't even know if I should continue, I mainly just wanted Natsu and Lucy to stun the guild. Does anyone have any prompts for where I should take this?  
I'm tempted to start a new story with the same set up. I sort of really want to see 'protective to the point of being nearly feral' Natsu with his little girl. Or maybe I'll explain what Iggy's personality is like. /sigh. Anyway, keep an eye out! I might just do a couple of mini au!fics first.**


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